Tuning peg adjusting mechanism



Oct. 11, 1960 P. o. BRAVERMAN 2,955,503

TUNING PEG ADJUSTING MECHANISM Filed May 1, 1958 INV ENT OR. P101 /P D.BRAYERH/IM ZWJZWW United States Patent Ofiice 2,955,503 Patented Oct.11, 1960 TUNING PEG ADJUSTlN G MECHANISM Philip D. Braverman, 416 S.Walnut St., Muncie, 1nd.

3 Filed May 1, 1958, Ser. No. 732,246

4 Claims. 01. 84-306) This invention relates generally to a mechanismfor adjusting the tuning pegs of musical instruments, and in particularto such a mechanism wherein the adjusting movement of the pegs isproduced by a push-button action.

The heads of conventional stringed instruments, such as guitars, areprovided with tuning pegs extending from the upper face of the head andhaving instrument strings attached thereto. Pegs similar in form areutilized for tensioning or tuning percussion instruments such as drumsor the like. The adjusting rotary motion of the pegs, necessary toproperly tune the instrument, is provided by means of sidewardlyextending members having fiattened heads or knobs thereon.Conventionally, a worm gear rotated by the sidewardly-extending membersmeshes with a wheel or gear which is keyed to the tuning peg. The wormand wheel combination thus serves to transfer the rotary motion of thesidewardly-extending members to the tuning pegs which extend at rightangles thereto. In the conventional tuning process for a stringedinstrument, such as a guitar, the instrument is held in playing positionand the rotary tuning adjustment of the tuning knobs is carried out withthe left hand, leaving the right hand free for the required fingering ofthe strings. While the rotary adjusting motion may be convenientlyimparted to the upper row of knobs with the left hand, it will beevident that in adjusting the lower row of knobs considerable difficultymay be encountered in providing the required adjusting motion of thelower knobs with the left hand.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to providea tuning peg adjusting mechanism whereby the required rotary, stringtension adjusting motion of the tuning peg is provided by a push-buttonaction.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a tuning pegadjusting mechanism which can be manu factured at low cost and which maybe adapted for use on any stringed musical instrument.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a push-buttontype adjusting mechanism for tuning pegs wherein the push-button memberis spring biased to return to its deactuated position without disturbingthe adjustment made to the tuning peg by the push-button member as it ismoved to actuated position.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

Fig. l is a side, plan view of an adjusting mechanism incorporating thepresent invention, showing the mechanism mounted within a suitablehousing.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view.

Fig. 4 is a top, plan view of a guitar head incorporating the tuning pegadjusting mechanism of the present invention.

Referring initially to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the components of the inventionare mounted-within a suitable rectangular housing 10 having side walls11 and an end wall 12. Extending rotatably through an appropriateaperture in the end wall 12 is a conventional metallic tuning peg 13having spaced openings 14 therein. The standard peg is used oninstruments having various head thicknesses and, when installed on aninstrument the accessible one of the spaced openings is used as ananchor point for the instrument string which is Wound about the peg asthe tuning adjustment is made.

Within the housing, the inner end of the tuning peg has locked forrotation therewith a toothed worm wheel 16. Tabs or bearing members 17,extending outwardly from the inner face of the housing end wall, serveto rotatably journal a worm gear 18 which meshes with the worm wheel.Outwardly of one of the bearing members the worm gear carries a piniongear 19.

Two of the opposing side walls 11 of the housing have aligned aperturestherein which slidably accommodate a push-button actuator taking theform of a shaft 21. As may best be seen in Fig. 3, an intermediateportion of the shaft is toothed so as to provide a rack 22. Coextensivewith the rack portion and immediately adjacent thereto the shaft 21 hasformed therein an inset land surface 23. As will be evident from Fig. 3,the rack is adapted to engage and rotate the pinion gear, depending uponthe rotational position of the shaft. One end of the shaft, extendingbeyond the housing, is provided with a knurled finger knob 24, or othersuitable finger operable member. The shaft is biased into its positionof Fig. l by means of a compression spring 26 which bottoms against theknob 24 and at its other end may be suitably anchored to the housing asindicated at 27 in Fig. 1. The endmost coil or coils of the springadjacent the knob 24 are anchored to the shaft 21 by any suitable meanssuch as by deforming the endmost coil to grip a flattened area of theshaft or by soldering the coil to the shaft. The anchoring of both endsof the spring thereby provides a torsion effect which biases the shaftinto its position of Fig. 1 wherein the land surface overlies the piniongear.

Referring now to Fig. 4, it may be seen that the apparatus of thepresent invention may be suitably mounted on the underface of aninstrument head, such as a guitar head, indicated at 28. When somounted, the shaft 21 and the knob 24 carried thereby extend sidewa-rdlyfrom the head, and the tuning peg 13 extends upwardly from the face ofthe head and accommodates the instrument string, such as indicated at 29in Fig. 4. Since a six-stringed guitar is here illustrated, six of theshafts and attached knobs are shown, it being understood that the numberof tuning peg adjusting mechanism used on a particular instrument isunimportant in the description of the present invention.

In operation, an instrument incorporating the adjusting mechanismof thepresent invention may be used by holding it in playing position andmanually providing the knobs 24 with the proper adjusting motion. Thisadjusting motion consists of a slight clockwise (as viewed in Fig. 2)rotation of the knob to place the rack in contact with the pinion 19,and then providing the shaft with an inward, linear motion. The inwardmotion of the shaft serves to rotate the pinion and the worm gear,thereby rotating the associated tuning peg. The inward motion given tothe shaft is proportioned to the tuning rotational movement required ofthe tuning peg, and when the tension of the instrument string hasreached the correct value, the button 24 is released, whereupon thespring 26 rotates the shaft to its angular position of Fig. 1 and movesit to its outer or de-actuated position of Fig. 1. During this outwardtravel of the shaft, the land surface 23 overlies the pinion and theadjusted position of the tuning peg is therefore not disturbed as theshaft returns to its outer or de-actuated position.

It will be apparent that the operation of the mechanism herein describeddoes not depend upon the compression,

spring 26 being located exteriorly of the housing as shown. It could belocated within the housing and its return movement function yet beproperly accomplished. Further, the spring could be unattached to thehousing and the shaft whereby it could act solely as a compressionspring rather than as a combined compression and torsion spring, asherein described. When so arranged, it will be evident that the slightangular movement of the shaft required to engage and disengage the rackwould have to be manually accomplished at the corresponding ends of theactuating stroke of the shaft. While, the mechanism of the presentinvention has been shown and described herein as mounted within a singleunitary housing, it will be evident that the mechanisms might bearranged in a single housing which might be suitably mounted on aninstrument head. For certain types of installations it would also bepossible to assemble the components on suitable bearing surfaces withoututilizing a complete housing per se.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail inthe drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered asillustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modificationsmay readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and Withinthe broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appendedclaims.

The invention claimed is:

1. A mechanism for adjusting a stringed musical instrument tuning pegcomprising a housing, a toothed wheel mounted for rotation within saidhousing and adapted to rotate a tuning peg associated therewith, a wormgear rotatably supported within said housing and meshing with saidwheel, a pinion gear coaxially mounted and rotatable with said wormgear, and means for adjustably rotating said pinion, said meanscomprising a shaft mounted for linear and rotational movement withinsaid housing and having a push-button actuator accessible exteriorly ofsaid housing, said shaft being formed to provide a rack meshing withsaid pinion and having an inset land surface co-extensive with said rackand adjacent thereto, a coiled torsion spring acting between said shaftand said housing to urge said shaft to one limit of its linear motionwith saidland surface overlying said pinion whereby movement of saidpush-button actuator against the force exerted by said spring rotatablypositions said tuning peg, release of said actuator permitting saidactuator to return to said one limit of travel without altering theadjusted position of said peg.

2. A mechanism for adjusting a stringed musical instrument tuning pegcomprising a housing, a toothed Wheel mounted for rotation Within saidhousing and adapted to rotate a tuning peg associated therewith, a Wormgear rotatably supported within said housing and meshing with saidwheel, a pinion gear coaxially mounted and rotatable with said wormgear, and means for adjustably rotating said pinion, said meanscomprising a shaft mounted for linear and rotational movement withinsaid housing and having a push-button actuator accessible exteriorly ofsaid housing, said shaft being formed to provide a rack meshing withsaid pinion and having an inset land surface co-extensive with said rackand adjacent thereto, a spring acting between said shaft and saidhousing to urge said shaft to one limit of its linear motion, wherebysaid push-button actuator may be angularly moved to engage said rackwith said wheel and linearly moved to provide anadjusting movement ofsaid tuning P 3. A mechanism for adjusting a stringed musical instrumenttuning peg comprising a housing, a toothed wheel mounted for rotationwithin said housing and adapted to rotate a tuning peg associatedtherewith, a worm gear rotatably supported within said housing andmeshing with said wheel, a pinion gear coaxially mounted and rotatablewith said Worm gear, and means for adjustably rotating said pinion, saidmeans comprising a shaft mounted for linear and rotational movementwithin said housing and having a push-button actuator accessibleexteriorly of said housing, said shaft being formed to provide a rackmeshing with said pinion and having an inset land surface co-extensivewith said rack and adjacent thereto, whereby linear movement of saidpush-button actuator through an actuating stroke rotatably positionssaid tuning peg, said land surface permitting said rack to clear saidwheel on the return stroke leaving unaltered the adjusted position ofsaid peg.

4. A mechanism for adjusting a musical instrument tuning peg comprising,a toothed wheel mounted for rotation adjacent a tuning peg and adaptedto rotate said peg, a worm gear rotatably supported adjacent said wheeland meshing therewith, a pinion gear coaxially mounted and rotatablewith said worm gear, and means for adjustably rotating said pinion, saidmeans comprising a shaft mounted for linear and rotational movementtransverse to the axis of said worm gear and having a push-buttonvReferences Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,557,877 Kluson June 19, 1951 2,806,689 Miller Sept. 17, 1957 2,859,628Arko Nov. 11, 1958

